Thursday 6 September 2007

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007
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Thursday, 6 September

There were two Premier League matches raced tonight. At Redcar the Bears raced Workington while at Sheffield the Tigers took on the Isle of Wight. There was a bonus point at stake in both matches.


Premier League: Redcar 48, Workington 42 Workington won the aggregate bonus point by 98-84


Redcar were at full strength while Workington sed Rider Replacement for Mattia Carpanese at number 2.

Workington badly needed to win this match to keep their play-off chances alive. They looked well placed for the bonus point having won the corresponding match at Derwent Park by 26 points.

Gary Havelock won the opening race under pressure from Kauko Nieminen while John Branney, talking the Rider Replacement ride, finished third ahead of Josh Auty for a shared race. The Comets took the lead in heat 2 thanks to a win by Charles Wright from Jack Hargreaves with John Branney in third place again. The 2-4 put the visitors two points in front and they increased it to four with another 2-4 in heat 3. James Wright and Craig Branney made lightning starts but James Grieves passed his partner, Chris Kerr, and then Branney to take second place. Back came the Bears with a 4-2 in heat 4 won by Matthieu Tressarieu from Ulrich Ostergaard with Jack Hargreaves third. This took the score to 11-13.

It was all square again after heat 5. The Bears pair made the gate but Charles Wright (R/R) passed Chris Kerr on the second lap to finish behind James Grieves for a 4-2 as Kauko Nieminen finished last. Redcar then took the lead with their third consecutive 4-2 in heat 6 with Josh Auty passing Ulrich Ostergaard on the second lap and Gary Havelock in third place. It stayed that way with a 3-3 in heat 7 but it was Craig Branney who won the race from Tressarieu and Giffard while James Wright could make no inroads at the back. Craig Branney took the R/R ride in heat 8 and, although Josh Auty won the race, the Branney brothers filled the minor spots with Craig leading John home ahead of Jack Hargreaves. The 3-3 took the score to 25-23.

Charles Wright was excluded from heat 9 under the two minute time allowance and was replaced by John Branney. The race was called back after an unsatisfactory start with James Grieves warned for moving at the tapes. At the second attempt Ulrich Ostergaard won from the gate beating James Grieves and Chris Kerr for a 3-3 so there were still two points between the teams. Gary Havelock and Josh Auty made the gate in heat 10 and it looked as though the Bears would take a 5-1. However James Wright had other ideas and he passed Josh Auty on the second bend of lap three then Gary Havelock on bend four for an excellent race win and share of the points. Kauko Nieminen became the third consecutive Comets’ race winner in heat 11 but again there was no support for the visitors’ heat leader as Charles Wright suffered an engine failure and the race again finished as a 3-3. James Grieves had a good win in heat 12 just holding off James Wright to get the decision on the line. Charles Wright took third from Daniel Giffard so this was the sixth consecutive 3-3 which took the score to 37-35 with all to race for over the last three heats.

Heat 13 produced a seventh 3-3 on the trot as Gary Havelock held on to beat Ulrich Ostergaard and Kauko Nieminen to keep the teams separated by two points. It looked like staying that way in heat 14 when Chris Kerr led Craig Branney with Charles Wright in third but Wright fell on the third bend of the second lap to let Daniel Giffard through for third which gave the Bears a 4-2 increasing their lead to four points with one heat to go. Gary Havelock rounded off the match by winning the final race from Ulrich Ostergaard while James Grieves passed James Wright for third to give the home side a 4-2 and a six point win. Workington took the bonus point comfortably.

Scorers: For Redcar – Gary Havelock 12 (5), James Grieves 11 (5), Josh Auty 7+1 (4), Mathieu Tressarieu 6+1 (4), Chris Kerr 5+1 (4), Daniel Giffard 4+1 (5), Jack Hargreaves 3 (3).

For Workington – Ulrich Ostergaard 11 (5), James Wright 8 (5), Craig Branney 8 (5), Kauko Nieminen 6+1 (4), Charles Wright 6+1 (7), John Branney 3+2 (5).



Premier League: Sheffield 53, Isle of Wight 40 The Isle of Wight won the aggregate bonus point by 99-85.


Sheffield had Andre Compton back in the side but were still missing James Cockle. Byron Bekker filled the number 7 reserve spot for the Tigers in his place. The Isle of Wight had Simon Lambert at number 6 in place of Andrew Bargh.

The Islanders got off to a great start when Chris Holder won the opening heat and set a new track record of 59.3. Behind him Ben Wilson just held on to finish second ahead of the hard pressing Cory Gathercole for a 2-4. James Birkinshaw then passed Simon Lambert on the third lap of heat 2 to win heat 2 while Byron Bekker fell at the back. The race was shared as a result but Sheffield took the lead with a 5-1 in heat 3. Andre Compton won the race but the battle for second place went to the line with Paul Cooper getting the verdict over Jason Bunyan, a decision which did not meet with universal agreement. The Tigers now led by two points and they increased the lead to six points with another 5-1 in heat 4. James Birkinshaw won the race from Joel Parsons and Krzysztof Stojanowski to take the score to 15-9.

It was time for Andre Compton and Chris Holder to meet in heat 5 and it was Holder who won the race. Compton finished second but Cory Gathercole took third ahead of Cooper for a 2-4 to the Islanders cutting the gap to four points. Byron Bekker withdrew from the meeting at this point with a hand injury allowing James Birkinshaw to take his remaining rides. Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson then took a 5-1 in heat 6 from Stojanowski to take the lead to eight points. James Birkinshaw touched the tapes in heat 7 and went from 15 metres back. Then Joel Parsons fell coming out of the second bend and was excluded from the rerun leaving Jason Bunyan and Glen Phillips to chalk up a 1-5 reducing the arrears to four points. It was back to eight again after heat 8. Ben Wilson won the race but James Birkinshaw crashed on the last bend as Cory Gathercole ran him wide. The race was awarded to Wilson and Birkinshaw with Gathercole excluded and the score now read 28-20.

A Compton/Cooper 5-1 from the gate ahead of Stojanowski in heat 9 extended the Tigers’ lead to 12 points and it increased to 14 with a 4-2 in heat 10. Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson made the gate but Jason Bunyan passed Wilson to limit the damage for the visitors. Chris Holder then took a Tactical Ride in heat 11 and won it by beating Joel Parsons. Cory Gathercole finished third while James Birkinshaw retired so the Islanders scored a 2-7 cutting the gap to 9 points. James Birkinshaw was unable to take his place in heat 12 so the Tigers had to go with only three riders. Deciding against a Tactical Substitute, Jason Bunyan and Simon Lambert followed Andre Compton home for a shared race and the score moved on to 42-33.

Chris Holder won heat 13 from Ricky Ashworth while Joel Parsons fell and remounted on the second bend. This meant that Krzysztof Stojanowski finished third and the Islanders took a 2-4. This cut the gap to seven points but had the advantage for Sheffield that it denied the visitors the use of a Tactical Substitute ride in heat 14. The Tigers clinched the win in this heat with Paul Cooper and James Birkinshaw team riding to keep Glen Phillips in third place for a 5-1 and 11 point lead. In the last race Ricky Ashworth denied Chris Holder his maximum by passing the Isle of Wight number 1 on the third bend and going on to win. Paul Cooper finished third and Jason Bunyan last so the Tigers finished with a 4-2 to win by 13 points but lose the bonus by 14 points.

Scorers: For Sheffield – James Birkinshaw 11+2 (6), Andre Compton 11 (4), Ricky Ashworth 11 (5), Paul Cooper 8+2 (5), Ben Wilson 8+1 (4), Joel Parsons 4+1 (4), Byron Bekker 0 (1).

For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 17 (5)(with 6 point TR), Jason Bunyan 8 (5), Krzysztof Stojanowski 4 (4), Glen Phillips 3+1 (4), Simon Lambert 3+1 (4), Cory Gathercole 3 (4), Chris Johnson 2+1 (4).

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